LOS ANGELES - The prime suspect in the 1988 slayings of racing promoter Mickey Thompson and his wife, Trudy Thompson, cannot be forced to participate in a lineup at Los Angeles County jail, an appellate court ruled in a decision published Tuesday.

Michael Frank Goodwin, Thompson's former partner and rival in a racing promotion business, sought the writ of prohibition against the Los Angeles Superior Court and the Sheriff's Department to prevent his appearance in a lineup.

Although Goodwin never has been arrested or charged in the crimes, sheriff's investigators long have considered him their chief suspect. They believe that Goodwin hired the actual killers, who reportedly sped away on bicycles from the Thompsons' San Gabriel Valley home the morning of March 16, 1988.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas L. Willhite, specially assigned to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, wrote that no state law gives judges the power to compel people who have not been arrested or indicted to submit themselves to custody for the limited purpose of a lineup.

"We hold that California law does not confer jurisdiction to enter such an order," Willhite wrote. Justices Orville A. Armstrong and Paul A. Turner concurred.

Goodwin's attorney, Jeffrey S. Benice, said he was happy with the decision. "We prevented them from dragging an innocent, unarrested person into county jail, a regular citizen, to serve in a sheriff's lineup," Benice said. "The appellate court said, 'We're not going to let that happen.'" Ordering Goodwin to appear in a lineup was improper because, as a person who has not been arrested or indicted, he is not under the court's jurisdiction, Willhite wrote. "The court can't issue an order to bring John Doe into court for no good purpose," Benice said.

Based on an affidavit filed under seal by Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Mark Lillienfeld, on March 28 Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John A. Torribio ordered Goodwin to appear at a lineup at the Men's Central Jail. Lillienfeld obtained the court order after Goodwin conducted a news conference to proclaim his innocence while an Orange County grand jury convened to review the case.

On April 16, the day before the scheduled lineup, Goodwin filed an ex parte application to quash the order. He argued that it violated his Fourth Amendment rights, failed to advise he was entitled to counsel at the lineup and violated his due-process rights because it was obtained "as part of a scheme of prosecutorial and investigatory misconduct." Goodwin v. Superior Court, 2001 DJDAR 6533 (Cal. App. 2nd Dist., June 26, 2001). According to Benice, Goodwin believed Lillienfeld sought the order in retaliation for his news conference.

On April 26, Torribio found probable cause to issue the lineup order but modified it to advise Goodwin he could have his attorney present. The appellate court initially denied Goodwin's request for a stay of the lineup order but later granted the stay.

Representatives of the Sheriff's Department and district attorney's office declined to comment on the decision.